Francis to preside over first joint wedding of his papacy

On September 14, Pope Francis will be presiding over his first Vatican wedding ceremony since he was appointed head of the Roman Catholic Church last year.

As confirmed by the Holy See, 20 couples from the Diocese of Rome will be married by the Argentine pontiff in a morning nuptial mass to take place in Saint Peter’s Basilica.

It is expected to be an unusual ceremony.

Since Pope Benedict XVI never publicly presided over a marriage ceremony as pope, the mid-September ceremony will be the first papal celebration of a wedding since 2000, when St. John Paul II married eight couples from different parts of the world as part of the Jubilee for Families.